Ex-Sandoval clerk writing book on same-sex marriage

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Former Sandoval County Clerk Victoria Dunlap, who fueled the nation's marriage debate by issuing licenses to same-sex couples, is writing a book about her experiences.

The Republican clerk issued more than 60 same-sex marriage licenses on Feb. 20, 2004, before Attorney General Patricia Madrid filed a lawsuit that stopped her. The lawsuit was dismissed in January.

Dunlap, who lost the June primary for Sandoval County commissioner, has moved to Ohio where she is researching about 20 boxes of notes about her experiences in a basement office. Her term as clerk ended Jan. 1.

Dunlap - in a telephone interview from her Coshocton, Ohio, home about 70 miles east of Columbus - said she was right to issue same-sex marriage licenses and said she would do it again.

"I wouldn't change anything," Dunlap said. "I said I would be fair and impartial and that is what I did."

Dunlap said it wasn't until after she issued the licenses that she came to believe same-sex marriage is the "most important civil rights issue" of our time.

"We just did what was right. We did what was fair. We know what is right and I'm proud to have done that," she said.

Dunlap, a mother of two, said she moved to Ohio to be near her husband's family.

Madrid accused Dunlap of overstepping her authority by trying to interpret state marriage law.

After Madrid filed the lawsuit, Dunlap spent the last nine months of her term under a temporary restraining order barring her from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

She called Madrid's actions illegal and said New Mexico's courts were beyond repair.